The guests enjoy a delicious dinner and begin to relax
in spite of the odd circumstances. They notice a set of ten china
figures of Indians sitting in the center of the table and immediately
associate the figures with the rhyme that hangs framed in all of
their rooms. When dinner is over, the whole company moves into the
drawing room. Everyone except Mrs. Rogers is in the drawing room
when suddenly the group hears a disembodied, mechanical-sounding
voice, seemingly coming from nowhere. It accuses each of them of
murder, naming the victim and the date of each guest’s purported
crime. After listing the crimes, it asks if anyone at the bar has
something to say in his or her defense.

The voice falls silent, and almost everyone expresses
shock and anger. Mrs. Rogers, who has been standing outside the
room, faints. While Mr. Rogers goes to fetch her some brandy, everyone
else searches for the source of the voice. Eventually, Lombard finds
an old-fashioned record player in an adjoining room. Rogers returns and
admits to turning it on in accordance with orders from his employer,
but he denies knowing what it was going to play. The record is entitled
“Swan Song.”

Mrs. Rogers revives, and her husband and Dr. Armstrong
help her to bed. People pour themselves drinks. When Mr. Rogers returns,
he explains that he and his wife have never met their employer,
Mr. Owen. He says that an agency hired them, and they received instructions
by mail. Everyone else takes turns explaining his or her invitation
to the island, and they realize that “Mr. Owen” impersonated various
old friends and specific acquaintances in the letters. Judge Wargrave,
who has taken charge of the discussion, notes that the recorded
message mentioned a Mr. Blore, but not a “Mr. Davis,” the name Blore
has chosen as an alias. Blore then reveals his real name and admits
that he was hired via post as a private detective to protect the
jewels of Mrs. U. N. Owen. Wargrave suggests that U. N. Owen sounds
like and stands for “unknown,” and that a homicidal maniac has invited
them all here.

Summary: Chapter IV

The subject turns to the accusations made by the voice
on the record, and the guests defend themselves. Wargrave, accused
of killing a man named Edward Seton, says that Seton was an accused murderer
on whom he passed sentence. Armstrong, remembering the case, privately
recalls that everyone felt sure Seton would be acquitted, but Wargrave
influenced the jury, which found Seton guilty. Vera, accused of
killing Cyril Hamilton, tells the group that she was his governess,
and he drowned while swimming to a rock. She says she tried her
best to save him. Macarthur, accused of killing his wife’s lover,
Arthur Richmond, says that Richmond was one of his officers who
died on a routine reconnaissance mission; Macarthur denies that
his wife ever had an affair. Lombard, accused of killing twenty-one
members of an East African tribe, admits to taking their food and
abandoning them in the wilderness, saying that he did so in order
to save himself. Tony Marston, accused of killing John and Lucy
Combes, remarks that they must have been two children he ran over
by accident.

Mr. Rogers says that he and his wife did not kill Jennifer
Brady, their employer, an old, sickly woman who died one night when
Mr. Rogers could not reach the doctor in time. He admits that they inherited
some money after her death. Blore says that when he was a police
inspector, he testified against a man named James Landor in a bank
robbery case. Landor later died in jail, but Blore insists that Landor
was guilty. Armstrong, accused of causing the death of a woman named
Louisa Mary Clees, denies knowing the name but privately remembers
the case. Clees was an elderly woman on whom he operated while drunk.
Only the dignified Emily Brent will not speak to the accusation
made against her.

Wargrave suggests they leave in the morning as soon as
the boat arrives; all the guests but one concur. Tony Marston suggests
they ought to stay and solve the case. He then takes a drink, chokes
on it, and dies.